Rigging for sailboats



Ot. 27, 1931; c. v. KOZLAY' RIGGING FOR SAILBOATS Filed March 22 50Patented Get. 27, 1931 UNITED STATES CLARENCE V. KOZLAY, OF NEW YORK, N.Y.

.RIGGING FOR SAILBOATS Application filed March 22, 1930. Serial No.438,187.

This invention relates to improvements in rigging devices for attachinga sail to the Ignast, or to the main gaff or boom of a sailoat.

According to one method of rigging sailboats, hoops or rings are passedaround the mast and attached to the sail and luff rope to hold the sailto the mast. The use of such mast-hoops for securing the sail to themast is accompanied by certain disadvantages, and for that reason it isnow common to use what is known as a Marconi rigging for securing thesails to the mast.

In a Marconi rigged sailboat the aftside of the mast, or the main gaffor boom, is provided with a track on which slides secured at variousintervals to the sail and lufi rope travel. These slides are secured tothe luff rope and sail by means of a grommet in the sail, and usually alinen or other strong cord binding passes through the slide and grommetand, at the same time, is wound around the luff rope. The sail is raisedand lowered on the mast by means of a hoist which is attached to theluff rope and peak of the sail, so that the strain of raising the saildoes not come entirely upon the peak of the sail, but is-evenlydistributed along the entire inner edge of the sail and luff rope whichis adjacent the mast.

In the Marconi rigging the slides which travel along the mast-track arepermanently fixed to the sail and luff rope. Therefore, whenever it isdesired to afiiX a sail to a mast 5 in a Marconirigged sailboat, it isnecessary to thread the several slides of the sail onto the track.l/Vhile such an arrangementprovides a very satisfactory means forraising and lowering the sails after the slides have been threaded ontothe track, it necessitates each sail having its own set of slides. andthe tedious threading of the slides onto the track each time the sailsare changed for purposes of drying, or to replace a set of heavy sailswith a lighter set or vice versa.

The rigging of this invention is of the Man coni type, but the slidesare so arranged that they are'permanently carried by the masttrack andcan readily be unloosened from the binding which is threaded throughthegrommet and around the luff rope. With an arrangement of this type it isonly necessary to have one set of slides for any number of sails, andthe necessity of threading the slides onto the track each time the sailsare changed is eliminated, as when the sails are to be changed it isonly necessary to release each one of the bindings of a given sail fromits proper slide, and thereafter to affix to the 7 slides the properbindings of the sail which is to replace the one removed. c

More specifically my invention comprises non-removable slides which fitover the track so that they cannot be pulled off, and means fordetachably securing these slides to the sail and luff rope.

Each slide comprises a main body portion which slides on the track, andan arm over which the sail and lufi' rope binding may pass. This arm ispreferably pivoted at. one end to the main body portion of the slide,and the arm has its other end releasably locked to the body portion sothat the sail and lufl rope binding which passesthereover are securelyretained against accidental removal In accordance with the presentinvention the linen cord bindings for the sail and lufi rope arereplaced by bindings which may more readily be secured to the slide, andwhich will more firmly grip the luff rope and cause the strain incidentto the raising ofcthe sail to be-more evenly distributed throughout theentire inner edge of the sail and the length of the luff rope adjacentthe mast.

For a fuller understanding of the invention reference is made to theaccompanying drawings and description, but it is to be understood thatthis more detailed description is merely an exemplification of theinvention 0 and that the same is not limited thereto except as set forthin the accompanying claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevation showing a sail attached to a mast bya rigging embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the slides;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View on line 4-4 of .Fig. 1;

al 1 designates a sp'ar or mast of a sailboat,

' ing edges of thetrack plate retain :the slide against removal while atthe although it is to be understood it "might as Well be the main gaff0r boom, and it is in this broad sense that the term mast ishereinafter' used, particularly in the appended claims. The aft side ofthe mast 1 has secured thereto a batten 2 which forms means forsecuringa plate 3, to the mast. This plate 3' is wider than the batten2and its pro jecting edges form a track on which slides '4 travel. y Y vV [The slides 4 are substantially C-shaped when viewed from theend, andcomprise a main body portion 5-and inturned marginal flangesb.Theseflan'ges underlie the project- 3 and securely same timepermitting'free movement of the vslidelongitudinally along the track.The inner face of the'main body portion is preferably, slightly-cut awayas shown at '7 to en- }sure-clearancebetween thebody and heads ofscrews, or other fastening means used to secure the plate 3to thebattens'2 and mast 1,

which'might possibly project beyond theface I ofthe plate."

- The outer slides are provided adjacent one end with a pair ofoutstanding lugs8, between whlch an arm 9 is pivoted by means of thepintle Theother end of the arm 9 is formed'with an eye 11 which isreceived between apairof lugs 12 and 13. Aspring-pressed pin is securedin the lug 12, and in normal posltion ,passes through the eye 11 of arm9 and is received in a recess 15 in lug 13. This releasably locks thearm in the position shown in Fig.3. I

The sail 16 has secured to its edge the usual luff or foot rope" 17 andis provided with grommets 18 through which fastening means pass :tosecure the -bint'iing means to the sail and 111s rope. 1

. lnrthe'present case the binding means, in the preferred form oftheinventiom'comprises, as shown in Fig.2, a'bifurcated member 19 whichstraddles the edge of the sail I and ma rope. As alsoshown in'thisfigure, the member 19 has one end formed into an eye 20 through whichthe arm 9 of the slide '4 1s "adapted to pass. The other-endof themember21 is turned at right angles to the eye 20 and is provided withopenings'22 and 23 in the respective legs of the member 19, to

receive the screw 24. The opening 22'is :un- "t hreaded, but the opening23 is threaded to correspond to the threads on the screw24.

face ofthe body portion'of the said body.

Intermediate the eye 20 and theend 21 the legs of the member 19 areinwardly concave the legs of the member will be pulled together I andthe 'luf't'rope and sail firmly clamped by the legs on opposite sidesthereof. \Vith the luff-rope and sail clamped in this manner, thestrain. incident to the hoisting'will be uniformly distributed along theentire edge of the sail and the *len th of the rope adj acent the mast.vg V 'fInfthe modification shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the binding meanscomprisesa twisted "link 26 having a pairof eyes 27 and 28. The eye 27isadapted to have the arm 9 passed therethrough thesame as the eye 20 ofthe bifurcated member 19 of Fig.2. Howeventhe eye 28 in this form of theinvention is' secured to the sail and luff rope by a lashing 29, whichpasses through the luff rope. I

With the rigging of the present invention a sufficient number of theslides 4 are nonremovably .ma-intained on the track 3 by means of theinwardly turned marginal flanges 6. ,Likewise, each sail is provided att'he proper. intervals with means for binding the sail and luff rope totheslides.

When it is desiredtosecure a sail to the grommet and'around the mast itis only necessary to release the arm l "9 of the sli-de's 4 by pullingout spring pin 14, insert the pin through the eyes 20 or 27 of thebinding means, and then relock the arm 9 between the lugs 12 and 13;This may be done as the sail is being hoisted and eliminatesthecumbersome and tedious method of threading the slidesonto the track.WVhenever it is desired to remove a sail for drying purposes, or toreplace it with another sail,

this operation is reversed and the slides left a on the. track.

It will be seen from the foregoing that I have provi-ded'a rigging meansfor sailboats whichpossesses all of the advantages of the Marconirigging, and in addition,.eliminates thenecessity of threading theslides onto the track everyv time a sail is secured to the mast as theslides are permanently retained on the track and the sail and luff ropedetachably secured to them. I I

I claim: r

1. Aslide for use in a rigging for a sailboat, comprisinga body havingtrack-engaging portions, binding means adaptedto be attached to a sail,a pivoted arm carried by said body for connection with said bindingmeans and spring means for releasably fastening the outer end ofsaidpiv-oted arm to 2. A slide for use in a rigging for a sailboat,comprising, binding means adapted to be attached to a sail, a bodyhaving trackengaging portions, an arm for connection with said bindingmeans having one end pivoted tov said body, and spring means fordetachably securing the other end of said arm to the body.

3. A slide for use in a rigging for a sailboat, comprising a body havingportions for engaging a track and retaining the slide thereon, an armfor connection with sail binding means spaced from the body, means forpivoting one end of the arm to the body, a spring-pressed pin fordetachably securing the other end of the arm to the body and sailbinding means adapted to be inserted upon the arm to secure the sail tothe slide and in turn to the mast. 4:. A sail and luff rope bindingmeans for use in a rigging for a salloat, comprlslng a bifurcated memberfor straddling and clamping the lufi rope and sail, said member havingits closed end formed as an eye for engaging a rigging slide, the insideof an intermediate portion of each of the legs of said member beingserrated to more effectively grip the lug rope, means for clamping thefree ends of the legs together to cause the sail and luff rope to beheld between the legs of the member and a rigging slide having springmeans for releasably attaching to the eye of the binding means.

5. In a rigging for a sailboat, a track secured to the mast, slidesnon-removably secured to and movable along said track, said slidescomprising a body having track-engaging portions, and an arm pivoted atone end of the body and having its other end detachably secured to thebody, and sail and luff rope binding means, said binding means having aneye through which the arm of the slide passes to secure the sail to theslides and in turn to the mast. In testimony whereof I atfix mysignature.

CLARENCE V. KOZLAY.

